'Warrior' Season 2 Ending Explained: Mai Ling plots with Buckley, also causes rift between Young Jun, Ah Sahm
Mai Ling changed the game for Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) and Young Jun (Jason Tobin) the moment that the war that the Irishmen had brought to the tongs had ended in 'Warrior' Season 2. After a momentary truce between the Long Zii and Hop Wei, Mai Ling (Dianne Doan) is back to plotting and scheming against Hop Wei and her brother Ah Sahm. It is clear that her greed for power is more potent than the guilt that she feels at having targetted Ah Sahm repeatedly. She had once even put a price on Ah Sahm's head when he had had a fight with Lii Yong. She had requested her brother to throw this fight so that Father Jun would be forced to come to an agreement with Long Zii and allow them to sell molasses as well.
However, Ah Sahm did not give in and Mai Ling pretty much ordered her brother's death because he was an obstacle in her path. At the beginning of season 2, we saw her feel bad about this, and she had even tried to convince Ah Sahm that she did what she did because he had forced her hand, but Ah Sahm can only see one thing and that is Mai Ling being perfectly fine with ordering her own brother's death. Until this moment, Ah Sahm had managed to keep the truth about his relationship with Mai Ling away from Young Jun but in a moment, Mai Ling destroys the trust that Young Jun had had in Ah Sahm.
She ends up calling for a meeting with Young Jun who has recently taken Hop Wei over from his father and Ah Sahm is of course right by his side. At the moment, in the absence of Zing's Fung Hai, Mai Ling is weak and Young Jun tries to make use of it. What neither Mai Ling or Young Jun had realized is that there is a secret that Mai Ling could out, which would pretty much destroy the relationship between Ah Sahm and Young Jun.
Their friendship and the brotherhood that Ah Sahm had pretty much depended on since his arrival in the US is now put at risk by his sister. Will the Hop Wei dice him and slice him or will he be let off for helping Young Jun take the chair? Initially, it seems as if Young Jun is headed towards dicing Ah Sahm, however, Hong the third of the three musketeers interrupts and tries to talk some sense into Young Jun. After throwing a few punches, Young Jun calms down and he thinks the situation through. He realizes that Ah Sahm had always been sincere and loyal to Hop Wei despite his relationship with Mai Ling and the fact that Young Jun had stayed close to Ah Sahm helps. He realizes that Ah Sahm's sister had tried to kill him and has since been trying to undermine him. He sees the animosity clearly but the only question that he has for Ah Sahm before making a decision is if Ah Sahm were forced to choose between Young Jun and Mai Ling, would he be able to make a choice?
Can he really kill his sister if the situation demands it and if he can't, what would that mean for Hop Wei. Young Jun has just taken over the chair from his father and the first lesson that he has learned is that one must be smart to know which fight to take on and which one to let be. So for now, he decides to let this be until he can come up with a clear plan.
On the other hand, Mai Ling is busy scheming and plotting Hop Wei's fall. She wants to be the only one in power in Chinatown and that is only possible if she can join hands with the new Mayor of San Francisco, Buckley. She gets evidence of Buckley "fighting on the losing side" in the past while he was in Tennesee and blackmails him to take action against Hop Wei. Just as she had expected, Buckley ends up targeting the Hop Wei and even instructs his team to do the same. He tells the cops to use the city's ordinances to weed the Hop Wei out and instead of fining them for not following the rules, the Chinese immigrants will be jailed. This allows Mai Ling a chance to take Hop Wei over, but what is surprising is how Leary might as well be the one to stop Mai Ling's plan from taking shape. Yes, Leary really is against the Chinese taking over the work that was originally allotted for the Irish working class. However, he is also not a fool who is ready to fall for Buckley's hollow promises.
So after that bloody and mind-numbing fight with Ah Sahm, Leary realizes that the only way he can fight the Chinese is by siding with the law and understanding it. He tried the simple and straightforward method when he invited Ah Sahm for a fight and failed. So now, it is time to be at the table where decisions about his future and his countrymen's future are being made. He wants to be informed and whenever possible he wants to steer the City's Council towards making decisions that are advantageous for him. He is doing the exact same thing that Mai Ling did by getting in cahoots with the new mayor, and so the finale of season 2 ends with not one but three big cliffhangers and hence we need a season 3!
'Warrior' Season 2 episodes will be aired on Cinemax every Friday at 10 pm ET.